Nerve cells routinely operate with a voltage of 0.1V between the inside and outside - separated by a double layer cell membrane about 0.1 micrometer thick. This suggests that the breakdown voltage is in excess of 1MV per meter. So even an intense EMP event would not cause breakdown of the cell membranes.

The triggering time of a nerve impulse is about 1-2ms, while the initial pulse of an EMP is about 1 ns, or about 1 million times shorter. This suggests that EMP would not cause false triggering of neurones. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_potential

Some of the longer-term effects of EMP could cause biological damage; people holding electrical appliances could get an electric shock - just as they could when lightning strikes.

For the would-be supervillain trying to take over the world, EMP could certainly disable a country or a city, but it probably wouldn't kill or injure many people directly. The damage would come from destroying the computers and electrical networks which today hold our society together.

As far as damaging organic structures, our evil supervillain would do more damage with a pistol - or even a taser.

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